24 June 2010
Income Tax Act, Sec 17(2)(ii)(b) – defunct ?
Payments ( Medical expenses) made by the employer to the Hospitals ( Dispensary / Clinic / Nursing Home) which is approved by the Chief Commissioner Section 17 (2)(ii)(b) of Income Tax Act., in connection with the medical treatment of the employee or any member of his family for treatment of prescribed diseases or ailments, shall not be treated as perquisite.
The commissioner shall satisfy himself in granting approval to any hospital for the above cited purpose, on the condition that it fulfils the specified requirements.
In practice, once approval is granted, no Hospital ( Dispensary / Clinic / Nursing Home) is bothered to observe the requirements as long as it claims as Approved Hospital u/s 17 (2)(ii)(b) of Income Tax Act, since the Commissioners of Income Tax are no more serious about their approval granted by them, even they never take pain to periodically authenticate the same, which propels the beneficiaries to have impression that what is the fun of continuing with this defunct provisions in the subject section.